Just Friends
by bookaddict1028
Summary: When Annabeth is hired to be the new architect for Percy's company, they can't stand each other. But after being forced to become friends, can they ever be something more? Or will Percy's father's strict rules make it impossible? (Everything but plot and OCs belong to Rick Riordan; rated T for language and smut in later chapters) AU


**A/N: Hey everyone!**

 **So, this story is kind of a rewrite of 'Rivals' which was only a three chapter long story. In the middle of writing Rivals i just got sick of where the storyline was going, so I decided to take the circumstances and switch them around a bit.**

 **Here's chapter one of my new fic . . . Just Friends! Follow, Favorite, and Review for the next chapter!**

 **I'll post chapter two as soon as i get five reviews! Hope you like it!**

* * *

I slammed the phone back in it's place on my desk. Somehow my Father always managed to spring things on me last minute; whether it was a family dinner or a new wife. This time, he had called to tell me that in my absence, he had hired a new architect for the construction of our new building. Somehow, it had slipped his mind until said architect had called him, making sure it was today she was supposed to start work.

I felt a pang in my chest for Miami. My week-long, yearly vacation had been more than perfect. My best friend since childhood – Grover - had come along, and we had spent the week on the beach, flirting with random girls and partying. Ah, the life.

Now that I was back in New York, running my Father's multimillion dollar company for him, I remembered why I had never wanted to work for him. Busy schedules, annoying co-workers, and hardly any time to eat lunch most days.

Earth-shaker inc. was a company dedicated to creating a healthy lifestyle for everyone in America. This meant we produced everything from surfboards to vacuum cleaners to frozen dinners. We were one of the top company's in the country right now; which meant my Father wanted a bigger headquarters.

We'd already had a fantastic architect, but he quit due to my Father's ever-changing demands. Now that Dad has hired a new architect, I can only hope she's ready for the taxing job of designing for my Dad.

My intercom buzzed; I hit the button for my secretary to talk.

"The new architect your Father hired is here Mr. Jackson." Kate informed me sweetly.

"Send her in."

A minute later, there was a knock on my office door. I loosened my tie and said, "Come in!" What I was expecting, was not what I got.

The woman that walked in was tall, slim, and blonde. With curly hair and long legs. She was dressed in a black pencil skirt and white blouse; her heels clicked on the wood floor of my office. Honestly, she was probably the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

"Mr. Jackson?" she asked. I nodded, indicating for her to sit in the chair on the other side of my desk.

"Your name is?" I asked, shaking her hand firmly.

"I'm Annabeth Chase. I understand your Father hired me while you were away?"

"Yes, I was uh. . . unaware of your employment until. . Today actually."

Annabeth pursed her lips. She spread out her designs on my desk, not wasting a second in telling me what each thing meant.

"Are you sure you want that there?" I asked, not meaning to be rude.

She held her head high. "Are you questioning my design skills?"

"That's not-"

"If you had a degree in architecture, I would take you a lot more seriously with your suggestions. Seeing that you don't-"

"What makes you think I don't?" I said smartly, not liking her tone of voice.

She cocked her head. "If you did, I doubt your Father would be wasting money hiring me, Seaweed Brain."

"What makes you think you're so great?" I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Who said I did?"

"Well you sure act like it."

She raised her eyebrows.

"You know I could fire you at any second right?"

"You wouldn't.

"How do you know I won't? There's plenty of architects to choose from."

She scoffed. "I'm the only one that will keep up to your Father's demands. I was the only one willing to take this job."

So, she was the only choice here. Damn. She was hot but she sure was arrogant. So if I couldn't fire her for being smart with me, I was just going to have to be smart back.

"Well then I guess you're stuck here aren't you?"

She nodded stiffly. "With his pretentious son."

I chuckled. "If I'm pretentious than you're audacious."

"Touche," she said. "And points for the vocab word."

I smirked.

She resumed talking about her design plans. This time, I listened intently. Around five in the evening I decided I was bored and needed to go home, so I stopped her in the middle of explaining the second floor features and suggested we pick up tomorrow. She pursed her lips but complied.

I held open my office door for her, shoving my smart-phone and wallet in my pocket. She walked out the door, her hips swaying.

"If you're not busy," I started, thinking only of the fact that she was hot and there was no wedding ring on her finger. "Can I buy you dinner?" I smirked at her surprised expression, but she regained her composer faster than she had lost it. Her eyes hardened.

"I'd rather stab my own eyes out." she spit, then turned on her heel and sauntered to the elevator.

Well then.

I walked, hurt, to Kate's desk. She was a tiny woman with mousy brown hair and matching eyes. She was biting her lip like she had heard the exchange between Annabeth and I, and was trying not to laugh.

"Bad day, Mr. Jackson?" Kate asked, her breath catching, accidentally letting a small giggle out of her mouth.

I scowled at her. "Call for Jake to bring my car around will you?"

I stood, leaning against her desk, as she called for my car to be drove around to the front of the building.

"She'll come around eventually, sir." Kate assured me, letting it slip she had heard our conversation.

"I'm sure." I said sarcastically.

In truth, I didn't really care that she had turned me down. She irritated me with her smart-mouth comments, but it's not like I could fire her. I took her word; she was the only architect in the country that would take this job.

When I got to the lobby of my Father's building, I walked out the front doors and Jake opened the back door of my black Lexus for me to climb in. I hated driving in the city – too much stopping and going for me – so my Dad hired Jake for me to drive me around when I was in New York.

One weekend a month, I took my Ferrari out into the country and met my Mom and Step-dad at our lake house. I loved driving fast, but with the crowded streets of the city I never could. So of course the logical thing for me to do was buy another house outside the city limits. Unfortunately, I wasn't going this month since I had been in Miami the weekend I was scheduled to go. Work clogged my next two weekends this month. It would be a while until I saw my Mom.

My apartment was only a ten minute drive from where I worked, but could take up to an hour in bad traffic. That specific night, it was bad traffic. I leaned my head back on my seat and groaned.

"Oh, my God."

"I know, Mr. Jackson. I apologize for the delay-" Jake said, looking back at me through the rear-view mirror.

"No, no, Jake. It's not your fault. I'm just tired, that's all." I reassured him, tugging a hand through my hair.

Finally, after an hour and half of rush hour traffic, we pulled up to the front door of my apartment building.

"See you at seven, Jake." I mumbled as I popped open the door and jumped out.

I walked into the lobby and sauntered up to the front receptionist to grab my mail. Tony, the doorman, handed me a stack of mail and tipped his hat in my direction.

"Any floor news?" I asked the old man. He smiled toothily.

"Looks like you have a new neighbor."

"Ah. Just what I need."

"Good luck, Mr. Jackson." Tony pressed the button for the elevator and the doors opened with a ding. I smiled at him a climbed into the elevator.

I patted my pockets as I neared my floor; phone, check. Wallet, check. Keys. . . not there. Dammit, where'd I put my keys? I frantically patted my front and back pockets, searching for my house key. I looked in the folds of my wallet, in between my phone and it's case, nowhere. Don't worry, I told myself, there's a spare key in the flower pot by the door.

The elevator doors opened and I jumped out onto my floor. There were only four, very spacious apartments on this floor; and I knew two were vacant, well, one now apparently. But not many people could afford living here at Garden Towers, so it had to be someone rich and powerful. I wondered idly if I would ever meet them.

I turned the corner to my door – across from me was one of the supposedly empty apartments so I decided I would have to be quiet from now on. . . not that I was loud before. I started digging through the little plant that sat in the corner by the door. I moved the dirt around, searching for my spare key. Just my luck, it wasn't there. I checked under the pot, under the welcome mat, I even went so far as to run my hands over the top of the door, hoping I had maybe put it there on accident. No luck.

"Fuck!" I said, a little too loudly. It was too late that I realized what I had done, and slapped my hand over my mouth.

The door behind me creaked open. I was scared to turn around.

"I thought I heard the sound of cockiness and misfortune." A woman's voice said behind me – a familiar woman's voice actually.

I didn't want to turn around. Partly because I was afraid I was right about who it was, partly because I was embarrassed I had just dropped the F-bomb in the middle of a hallway. I closed my eyes and turned.

Of course, just my luck. Miss Annabeth Chase stood in the doorway behind me. I was too busy wondering how the hell she could afford the rent here to realize she was waiting for me to say something.

"I lost my keys." I said stupidly.

"And here I thought you were all professional and stuff. Turns out you're just an idiot with a rich daddy. No surprise there." She said, crossing her arms and leaning on the door frame.

She had changed clothes, and now she was in yoga pants and a tank top. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a knot. She was barefoot.

"I'm offended," I held my heart with my hand.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and dialed maintenance. Lucky for me, I had set the fire alarm off so many times I had them on speed dial.

"Mr. Jackson, is this you?" I recognized Fred – the maintenance guy – speaking into the phone. Apparently I was the only one that ever called. Tony thought that was pretty funny. "Did you get locked out of your house again?"

"Har har har," I said, aware that Annabeth was still watching me on the phone. "No need to make fun."

"You did didn't you?"

"Yes. Will you come up please?" I relented.

"If I make any more spare keys for you, the entire state of New York will end up with keys to your apartment!" Fred exclaimed, hanging up the phone.

I shoved my phone back in my pocket and leaned against the door.

"Don't you have anything better to do other than laugh at my current predicament?" I asked Annabeth.

She nodded thoughtfully. "Two things. Again, points for the whole 'current predicament' thing. You needed that after the whole 'fuck' thing. Second, I have plenty of other things to do, but it'll be funny watching you struggle to get into your apartment. And I'm all about laughing at you."

"You underestimate my vocabulary." I said, leaning my head on the door, wishing Fred would hurry up.

"You kind of brought that on yourself Mr." she pointed out.

I remembered with horror that there where two kids that lived on this floor. . . Austin and Andrea Gold – their parents owned a successful jewelry company. I hoped to God that they weren't home tonight.

"You're irritating, you know that?" I asked Annabeth, watching as her gray eyes narrowed.

"And you're an insufferable rich brat that thinks he's entitled to everything he wants." she spat.

I put my hands up in surrender. "Okay, back up. You've known me for what? Six hours and you think you know everything about me? Who do you think you are?"

"The same could be said for you." she raised an eyebrow.

I raked a hand through my messy hair and sighed as the elevator dinged and Fred walked over to me.

"I've got the key, Mr. Jackson." Fred handed me a silver key, his dark eyes crinkling as he chuckled.

"Thank you, Fred."

I turned towards my door. I heard Fred talking to Annabeth.

"He gets locked out at least once a week." he told her. I ignored them, walking into my apartment and closing the door with my foot. I heard Annabeth laugh through the wood door and I turned the lock irritability.

I couldn't believe I was being forced to work with such a smart-mouth, cheeky, arrogant woman. And then, to make matters worse, I find out she's living next door to me? I called my dad, huffing into the phone as I lounged on the couch.

"Dad, what did you do?" I asked as soon as he answered.

"What?" yeah yeah, like I'm going to believe this nonsense.

"How much are you paying Miss Chase, Dad?"

"Why?"

"Because she's now living right next door to me, and there's no way she could afford rent here." I said.

"Well along with a salary, I offered to pay for her living expenses, considering." he explained. "But I have her renting a place at Garden Towers, you live in-"

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"I live in Garden Towers."

"Oh. . . "

"Yeah."

"I still don't see the problem." he insisted.

"She's a bold smart-mouth that has no respect for me!" I whined. I realized I was probably acting like a brat, but Annabeth had acted in such an unprofessional way towards me, I'd since decided to treat her the same way.

"That's exactly why I hired her!" My Dad exclaimed.

"Are you kidding me?"

"No. I thought you could use someone that put you in your place from time to time. Do you even remember what it was like before we had money?"

I thought back through twenty-five years of memories. The earliest I remembered was living in a small apartment with my parents. Soon after that they had gotten divorced and my Dad had started his multimillion dollar company. My mom started work as a novelist with her new English professor boyfriend, and I got shipped back and forth every other weekend. I hadn't minded, I was so small when they split, I hardly knew what was going on.

"I do." I said, then hung up on him without another word.

I was tired, and not in the mood to eat. So I kicked my uncomfortable dress shoes off and shrugged out of my work clothes before crawling under the warm coverlet of my huge bed.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that was chapter one of Just Friends! I hope everyone enjoyed it!**

 **If I get five reviews I'll post chapter two!**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **\- Bookaddict1028**


End file.
